BBC article on Qatar

[qatarperegrine]

The BBC has posted a rather humorous article on the author's vain attempts to have a non-superficial experience of Qatar: Trying to lift the veil on Qatar.

Nit-picking: it's untrue foreigners can't rent property. "Most" Qatari women don't cover their faces, and Land Cruisers don't look like tanks. Is Faris supposed to be Qatari, 'cause if so, what's he doing in a galabia? And what's with Saud "Il Thani" -- is he Italian?! The world's biggest mall was not on his Doha city tour since it's in Beijing, and Souq Waqif was recently renovated, not demolished. I understand that you never get the full picture of somewhere after visiting for only a couple days, but all those things are easily fact-checkable!

Comments

Pedantry

[dubaiwalla.livejournal.com]

It mentioned Qatari compounds. Isn't Doha like Dubai, in that certain parts of town are occupied exclusively by citizens?

galabia
Wiki claims it is a native Khaleeji garment. In any case, it's fairly similar to a thawb.

Re: Pedantry

[qatar.livejournal.com]

Well, that's what made the comment confusing. I live in a compound; most Westerners do. Qataris don't; they live in large, free-standing houses. So what would renting in a "Qatari compound" even mean? What's a Qatari compound?

There definitely are "Qatari parts of town"... but my boss lives in one. There's no rule that Qataris can't live there.

And I have NEVER heard the word "jelabiya" used in Qatar for anything other than women's housedresses. There's no freaking way a Qatari man would call his thobe a jelabiya.